State Legislators Should Butt Out, Let County Tune Governing Process

January 9, 1998

Here is some advice for Rep. Fred Lippman and other local lawmakers backing a bill to create the job of executive mayor of Broward County:

* Back off a bit. County commissioners have responded to your pressure and asked the county attorney for advice on drafting a county charter amendment. Give them a chance to proceed; don't confuse voters with two competing proposals.

State and local cooperation, not confrontation, is vital. Commissioners lack the Legislature's power to submit complicated charter revisions to voters. They can only put forth amendments, each affecting a single part of the charter.

Legislative meddling was what county charters were created to escape. Rushing an amendment onto the ballot Nov. 3 by filing a bill three months past deadline hardly inspires confidence.

The county mayor idea is a sound one, potentially able to boost quality of leadership and accountability. But if you favor it, try to work with commissioners.

* Be sure to do it right. Pick a committee of people knowledgeable about this issue, from groups like the League of Women Voters, the FAU/FIU Joint Center for Environmental and Urban Problems, the League of Cities and the Florida Association of Counties. Let them study the full picture and propose comprehensive, carefully-structured reforms.

* Don't try to reinvent the wheel. Learn the pluses and minuses of the strong-mayor charters in Miami-Dade, Orange, Duval and Pinellas counties. Talk to Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas and members of previous Broward Charter Review Commissions, which studied the county mayor idea.

* Draw up a specific job description, defining and limiting the mayor's powers and duties, guided by one prepared by the FAU/FIU Joint Center. The mayor should have strong executive authority, like a president or governor, to provide a single desk where the buck stops and a central focus of countywide leadership.

* Let the mayor be the top political leader while requiring him or her to hire a professional county administrator, subject to County Commission confirmation, to handle day-to-day operations.

* Don't just put the county mayor idea on the ballot by itself. Include other reforms that work together as a package to make leadership stronger and more accountable and with more checks and balances to avoid abuses of power by any single branch.

Switching to mostly district-only elections would make it easier to run for office and make commissioners more accountable to the voters. Retaining a few countywide seats, like the School Board, would minimize weaknesses and maximize strengths of each election system.

Eight-year term limits would prevent creation of long-lived political dynasties.

Nonpartisan elections, like those used for judges, city officials and Miami-Dade's mayor and county commissioners, would let voters focus on candidate credentials and ideas instead of party labels.

Finally, adding an independent financial watchdog like an elected comptroller, or restoring those duties to the clerk of court, could protect taxpayer interests.

With a population of 1.4 million people, Broward is larger than any of 13 entire states. Logic suggests it should be governed more like a state than a county.